Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Mick Telling (my dad) is an out and out club man and he enjoys fishing the South Cerney complex, especially Wickwater 2 (hence the photograph below).

My old Man with a nice mirror carp from South Cerney lakes

My dad and my uncle John were a major influence on my fishing in the early days of fishing as a Junior. I was very lucky as John or my Dad was able to take me all over the place. My Uncle wasn't so keen on the carping when it came into fashion, but my dad showed a lot more interest. Me and my dad used to fish High Penn, Wootton Bassett water, this lake was solid with wild carp. Also the canal at Dezives was awesome, but my pole wasn't long enough to reach the far bank! The Pile and Willows were our hot spots, and there were hundreds of carp along the canal and I believe these parts are still good, but the boats are issue, as there isn't much access.

South Cerney is where most of our fishing was done, and my dad is still very keen on fishing there. He has had some good weights out of Wickwater 2 in the club matches and his biggest weight is 167lb on the method feeder.

Monday, 29 November 2010

2010 was a tough year, didn't qualify for fish o maina, should of as I was so close at Larford Lakes, but close isn’t good enough, as you must win the event to qualify. I will apply for all sixteen tickets next year to give me a better chance of qualify. I would love to get back on that final, so fingers and toes crossed!

Also I have another two major events that I would like to qualify for is Phil Briscoe's £100K and UK champs. I have bought 4 tickets for the Maver event, that cost me a whopping £200! So more travelling this summer. Then comes UK champs which is run by Nigel Harry, which is a fanatic bloke and awesome matches! I will try and qualify for that, as I didn't finish in the top 40 this year to secure my place, I think I may even get the wooden spoon as I done so badly!!

I would like also to get through the county champs final. I missed out last year at Hillview, a venue that I don't seem to connect with and I dare say the next fish off will be there, so better put some time and effort in next year.

I will hopefully fish Boddingtons a lot more next year, as I fished a MFS (Match Fishing Scene) match and I had 260lb and only came third! What a venue, and this was with every peg in, so if I drawed an end peg or fished the Tuesday open matches were it's every other peg I hate to think what the venue is capable of! I would like to beat the world record, which I believe it's still 489 in five hours. The issue is that you need 20 anglers and to catch that amount of fish!! I haven't even broke the 400lb barrier!! Viaduct seems to be throwing some huge weights, so may even consider going there next year.

Finally it would be nice to fish the angling times semi finals, which all rests on this weekend. The team does have a huge uphill struggle, as we are 3 points behind and only one more match left. However, the match may still get cancelled due to bad weather!

This was a match which I wasn't really looking forward to, as the weather has been very cold and we have had four hard frosts prior to the match. So I ensured that I put my ice breaker in the van the night before, as this was going to be the most important part of kit. This match was always going to be hard, and E section at Horton is where you wanted to be, as this is where the sport was going to be more consistent due to boating area and the fish do shoal up there by the pub, it is solid. So I draw A section, Peg 4 and therefore couldn't be much further away from the place where I wanted to be!

Allington hasn't been used before in this league, so was a little unknown. I was told it was a long walk to get to the canal. So on arrival I grab my rods and ice breaker and I was off, I would get the rest of my kit later. I discovered that I would have essentially four end pegs in my section, as Peg 1 (Gary Etheridge) was the beginning of the match, Peg 14 (Mark Saunders) and then the middle of section pegs 7 and 8. I broke the ice to the far bank, which was only 10 meters, so a easy throw. Also I broke a lot of ice to my right, so I could fish chop worm down the peg out of the way. I also left a triangle on the far bank, so I could fish two bread lines either side and the ice gave me some important cover. This took me a good thirty minutes to clear, but I felt it would be well worth it. Also I was the first to broke ice, which would give my fish more time to settle, something that learnt the hard way! It's very traumatic for the fish, these fish haven't been fished for all year, and then I come with a 4kg weight and chain and make the most noise ever know to them....

I was only going to fish bread and chop worm. I was going to fish chopworm at seven meters down the peg in the deepest part of the peg, and lined up with some dead vegetation on the far bank, so if a boat come through, then I would still know where to fish, as Kevin Rowles said that there would be some boats!! I fished bread five meters in front of me, which was just out of the deepest part of the water. Then fished 8 meters, which was a 45 degree angle. I didn't want the two bread lines to conflict with each other, but felt that I would have to rotate the two lines to keep fish coming, as today was going to be very tough! The chop line MUST be far away, because it does attract pike and you don't want pike near your bread line, also a two pound perch will eat little roach and this canal is full of BIG BILLES! So you don't want these fis near your small fish lines. When I walked back, I saw that a lot of anglers only broke a very small section, which isn't good for two reasons, if you fish chop worm, you don't give a lot of room to play your fish and it's too close to bread line (small fish) and it does have issues.

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Gary Etheridge with 4lb 14oz to win the section

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Kevin Rowles next door with 2lb 2oz, end pegs are hard to beat

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Our squad (i'm the fat git in the middle)

Well done Mr Franks for winning the individaual, we tied on points (55 each) but he beat me on weight.

Sunday, 21 November 2010

We needed to win today as a team, with 4 of our guys fishing on Wednesday, trying to fine tune anything just wasn't enough to beat Blackmore Vale on the day and they increase their lead on us . Our league is looking "bleak", we are 3 points behind Andover and Blackmore Vale. We need a miracle in two weeks at Horton!!

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

I got there early to miss the traffic and help Gary Etheridge to peg the match. On arrival to the venue, it was gin clear, not just clear but gin clear. Oh gosh................

My team mate Nigel Crewe and Gary came. So we decided to go for a walk up Beeches, and I said "there's a bream" to the two guys who thought was messing around..... then "look two carp" and a "third". These were reasonable sized fish that didn't seem distressed that we were there! Walking up the canal it looked grim. By the cables looked a little dark down the middle, so that was peg 6, then peg 5, 4 and 3 looked like they could catch, but peg 2 and 1 you could see all the way across. I expressed my concerns and almost begged them not to peg it. So they didn't. I didn't want to drive 50 miles and catch nothing!

Well done Mark, 202 fish for 9lb 8oz. A good win. (sorry about the photo, too dark and wet)

Monday, 15 November 2010

I was a little disappointed when I discovered that there were 21 pegs in competition pound. This section was going to be challenging as it was, yet alone with the extra pegging. To make matters worse the canal is very clear, due to the lack of boat traffic, actually no boat traffic as the lock is broken at Brimslade.

I draw in the middle of the pound, by a sunken old work boat, so this gave me more room (extra peg really). Now I fancied this, because the match was going to be hard and with the extra room, it is going to be worth it's weight in gold. Wrong!!!! I caught 4 roach in the first hour, then fell asleep for the next 3 hours, well might as well as. In them 3 hours I caught 5 perch and 2 dace, not a single roach. I worked hard with rotation of rigs and lines to try and catch........ but couldn't. All I could do is watch the guys to my left catch, the guy next to me was bagging (Stu Dabbs, who went on to win the section with 6lb 2oz).

In the last 50 minutes the water began to move, not sure why but did, and like a light switch I begin to catch roach. Not lining up, but a reasonably size. But the issue is that i'm too far behind. I tried to attack it, to see if I could really bag! But didn't, I only managed to catch 1lb 8oz in the last 50 minutes, which was about 25 fish. Gutted.

Where did I go wrong?

I never like to blame the peg, but I honestly don't believe there weren't many roach there, I few to start with (4) and then at the end there were a big shoal.... Looking at the section, the guys that caught had a lot of far bank vegetation, whereas I had none, not sure if the fish were hiding underneath it. Joe Thompson next to me was the other side of the boat had 15oz (but he was in D section, whereas I was in C). There was no fish topping infront of me, whereas to my left they were... Also Bob Davies (2 pegs up) had a pike issues, which would make me think the pike have shoaled up the fish.

I think I shouldn't of loose feed any squatts, and fished out the balls of groundbait in hope of a skimmer. But there weren't any caught in section, so maybe not.....

Never caught on bread.

Tried a line 14.5 meters down the swim, loose feeding only squatts (caught a 4oz perch, biggest fish), so that didn't work

Fished 13 meters up the peg towards the guy next to me, caught nothing, and then even throw in 5 small balls of ground bait, trying to draw some fish, and no suprise that didn't work.

Sunday, 7 November 2010

After 6 matches on a very disppointing river, i was so excited about getting onto the canal. I love fishing this canal, especially when is on (i.e. fishing well), but after wednesday's match my confidence has been hit

At the draw, I was praying to be in the competition pound, as this is my all time faviourite strecth of the canal. I did do 24lb odd of squatt fish in a match here a few years ago (367 fish, will find out the date) and I was in the middle of section, no flyer! There is a lot of fish here!!! However, I was at beeches again, but once I arrived to the canal it was "sock on", it has colour and there were fish topping everywhere, and not just in my peg.....

I believe that when the canal is on (fishing well), then it is best to fish one line and let them have it. Now my confidence was a little down, as I had a bad midweek match and I was going to prove to myself that I was capable of catching. Howver, I wasn't going to leave anything to chance and therefore kitted a mountain of gear, 11 top kits! I had only one chopworm rigs, which I didn't plan to fish, but would feed to my right, 11 meters down the peg, just in case there was any big billies in the area. Then I would fish 6 meters in the deepest part of the canal, at a 45 degree angle to my left, so I wouldn't be lifting or playing fish ontop on my line when I fish 9 meters striaght out infront. 9 meters was going to be my line!!

Rigs

So I kitted up 0.2 to 0.4gram (sensas 21 floats) , they ranged from shirt button, to bulk down. This way I don't have to move any shot or adjust any rigs, I just pick up a top kit, so I can vary my presentation within the seconds. Fishing can be race, and with 84 anglers fishing, a few ounces can make the differece to framing and not.

Saturday, 6 November 2010

With only nine people fishing, we were spread across the lake and had every other peg, which was always going to help. The lake was flat calm, not a single ripple and leaves all across the lake. To make matters worse, they were drifting up towards me..............awesome!

I was disappointed to draw peg 18 and felt that I would struggle to catch and wouldn't compete with pegs 32, 30, 28, 9 and 13. As the fish do tend to shoal in this area, especially the roach. So I felt the odds were against me. But as always I was going to maintain a positive approach, dispute me having a little moan!!

I had half a kilo of frozen joker which was going to feed in groundbait, well did have half a kilo, but my mate Jon Walker got his "mints" on some. I plumbed up carefully, and felt 8 meters would be the minimum I would fish due to the cold weather and 13 meters been my main area of attack. So I cupped in one soft ball of groundbait and 5 big balls at 13 meters packed with almost all my joker, 1/2 pint of caster. This was an awful lot of bait, but I planned that once the fish settled on that, I wouldn't stop catching, well that's the plan. I also fed to the right by the bush at 4 meters, but didn't expect to catch there, and I didn't. Also cupped two balls at 8 meters.

The Match

So after a few minutes of potting in a load of bait. I started at 8 meters hoping to catch straight away, but didn't have a bite after 10 minutes. So went out on 13 meters, never had a bite.... oh s**t, I have blown the peg and then I decide to feed a line at 13 meters at 45 degree angle towards peg 19(3 balls this time), where it is 4 inches shallower. I would rest this line for 30 minutes. I sat there like a" muppet" for forty minutes, and caught 4 tiny roach on my positive line, oh dear. Looking down the lake, they were catching but not crazy. Eddie super star Taylor had had a "big billie" (big perch). After an hour and twenty minutes I began to catch decent roach about 2-4oz a piece. This was much more positive, things were now looking up!! I begin to get the odd blow, and then caught a skimmer about 1lb 8oz, which was very welcome.

I found that resting the lines, and by feeding a ball of groundbait and resting it for fifteen minutes, I would caught these skimmers or a "big billie" Also fishing three inches over depth with single red maggot was better. I did catch a few fish on double maggot, but single was far better! Also never caught on caster, even after feeding almost two pints.... The caster was the key to catching this better fish, as it is a good holding bait, but didn't make sense why I couldn't catch on them???

The last forty minutes was an nightmare, as there was carp everywhere, and they did mess up my silver lines. I hooked three and lost all three, one of which was a huge fish..... one of them twenty pounders maybe. I will get my first twenty pounder out of this lake, yet to have one, but not much chance on 0.09!! It was a surprise though how much it took to finally break me, with balanced tackle it's amazing what you can get away with!

I was surprised to way in 26lb, as I thought I would be knocking 20lb but not that much. I knew the fish were good quality, and I believe that 50lb-60lb is achievable on the right peg and conditions. I honestly felt the lake fished well, as it was flat calm, bright and cold!!

In reflection, I think I would fish two lines at 13 meters, one would be raw joker with caster and few dead red maggots. The other line would be groundbait with joker and caster. I would start on the raw line, as this would normally work instantly and therefore catch these early fish, whereas the fish took longer to settle over the groundbait. Once I started to rotate lines, I would feed groundbait on top on the raw joker line. I would hope to catch for an hour on the raw line.... I think the fish will be smaller, but hopefully I would do 4lb-6lb in the first hour, and then more over the groundbait line. However, if the lake goes clear due to the cold weather, then I would only feed it raw. I think joker is a good holding bait, I think you will catch a lot of fish on maggot and caster. But joker is such a good holding bait and for the sake of tenner you could really improve your day!!

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Jon Walker, with his new patterns

Walkers floats........... they are GREAT!!

0.5 and 0.75 Colmic floats

Dan the man next to me!!

Mick with 19lb 8oz for 3rd (Peg 13)

John Bennet with his 13lb of small roach (peg 10)

There is also Eddies report on rolf's lake on this match and many more.

Saturday, 30 October 2010

Andy the owner of Vespe wanted me to go to France and experience the way in which they fish. He said that I would be good to meet some good anglers and great chance of catching some fish. However, he didn't know anything about the lakes. So was concerned that I was going to look idiot from England, so I took everything!!

On arrival to the lake, I was shocked to see how small the lake actually was!!Especially as I was talking to “Mad Fred” and I was well excited over my French breakfast as he was on about a catching huge carp on the pole, 30lbers!!!As we got out of the car, we were greeted by the lake bailiff, you who seemed very enthusiastic that were here, so sure what Fred had told him.I hope his expectations weren’t too high?

Fred was our keen French angler, and also he was our translator as he can speak fluent English and of course French.So we (Andy, Fred, Bailiff and myself) walked around the lake to choose an area and also discuss the lake. The Bailiff was telling us that there are also sturgeon in the lake and that most mornings it would expose itself by coming out of the water to breath! However, after the recent frosts the lake was slowing down and there hasn’t been many fish caught since the cold snap.Therefore, I was a little concerned as there was no fish activity and feared the worse.The lake had an island, which of course would be a major feature and somewhere that would be a good holding area for the fish, as it would provide cover in the clear water. I thought that it would be best fish at the island, and as we were walking back to the car, a carp leaped out of the water, enough said!

After carrying a mountain of gear a short distance to our pegs I opted to kit up a feeder rod, which I was going to fish a 25gram elasticised method feeder, with 0.22 vespro line and size 16 Drennan method hook and fish two dead red maggots, with 8lb maxi line.On the pole fished 0,20 and 0.18 vespro with double seven elastic, with a pulla bung.However Fred was fishing 0.26mm on the pole, which was straight through to size 12 hook to Vespe E2 2.85 elastic!!! Gosh, what is Fred after?Are the fish really that big?Fred said that I was fishing too light and would get broken as the fish would average 6kg (13lb) plus.Also he opted to fish paste, oh my favourite bait, but it was bright orange!? I said “I don’t think that will work in cold, clear water”.Also I felt that Fred’s gear was way too heavy, but hey I had never been to France before, yet along caught a French fish, so what do I know?

So Fred started on the pole at 13 meters (which is their pole limit) and I started on the method feeder (my method mix was Sensas Gold, with some black dye, mixed dry) about foot away from the island.I felt a foot would put me in slightly deeper water.Now it is important to clip up, otherwise your end up the tree, now the best way to do this is cast a bomb to the island until you have the prefect distance, then set the line clip.Also ensure you rod is on the rod rest when it lands, this way you don’t move the feeder away from the far bank as the bait wants to be on a five pence piece and not dragged all over the place.If you hook a monster, doesn’t matter put unclip the line if the fish runs and once you have landed the fish change the feeder back to the bomb and recast to the right spot.Or you could use tip ex or a line marker.

Now, I had a few people watching, and on my 2nd cast, which was thirty minutes I had a sharp pull, which result in everybody gasping,but I didn’t move to their disappointment.I explained that it was a liner, and that I didn’t want to strike otherwise I would spook the fish.Then it pulled again which resulted the rod almost going in, “now that’s a bite!” 5 minute fight and an 8lber in the net, a “stockie” Fred said.But Fred was still was bite less, and another cast and another fish about the same size straight away.My fourth cast result in the tip moving, then went slack, so half a turn of the reel to tighten up but no the tip was still slack.So I winding reasonably quick, which resulted in a fish on, and this time was much bigger!!I got about five turns of the reel on it, and then the fish was not going to play ball, as I begin to back wind and the line clip was off to releasemore line!The fish did rise against the corner of the island and my Drennan DRX Method rod was bent double as it was trying to get to the tree!So I decide to pull a little harder in order to stop it and lucky enough it did turn. By this time I knew it was a reasonable size, but when I saw it about 10 meters away from me in the clear water I guessed it was about 18lb common.However after fifteen minutes later, I got it out and it was 25lb 9oz!This is the biggest fish that I have caught.So I was well pleased, to say the least, and therefore a quick few photo’s and put the fish straight back as it was too big to go in the keepnet.

As the session went on I noticed that the drop backs resulted in big fish, and you need to wind to discover if it is a bite or sometimes it maybe where the fish have moved the feeder (liner) or they have picked it up and swim towards you and therefore wind quickly to set the hook, other you won’t connect to them.The smaller carp (not small by my standards) would rip the rod in.Ensure you don’t strike as you may spook the fish!I can’t stress that enough.Normally the fish should hook themselves as the bites are very aggressive, unless you get drop backs.

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After a 15 minute battle

I got it finally in the net

25lb 9oz, my biggest fish to date

The pole did work, was a little worried about catching huge fish on the pole, as my Drennan Icon is only a match pole really, even though I have had carp up 19lb on it. I had one carp knocking onto 20lb on the pole today.

Pulla kits really do make things easier!!

I had a few carp on the pole, had 4lb Grass Carp and 18lb + mirror on the pole

Sunday, 17 October 2010

I had been looking forward to this match for a few weeks. However I little disappointed with my peg when I arrived. As you can see below, it was jungle, with Kevin "god" Rowles folding a few reeds over.

2lb 8oz

8 points out of 14, very disappointed.

Team was 2nd, which is a good result

Lacked any fish of any size! Mainly caught tiny little roach, with a few little perch.

Squatt was by far the best bait for me, a few inches off the the "deck".

An hard core 30 mintues later and cut the peg out, I had to borrow most peoples gear to help me. I would of been easier with a can of petrol and light.

I had a feeling it would be harder than normal today, but spoke to Jason Cooke and still felt that 100lb would be needed to win, even with the very bright sunshine, little breeze and a lot colder the last few days. So I felt the pole would score well today, on the bottam with 4mm pellet at 13 meters. Also the waggler later at 25 meters, I wouldn't start by feeding this line, as I do feel this does hinder and have a negative effect on your long pole line. However, if it was going to be a "bagfest" then I would feed it from the off. But "baggin" is off the cards on, and much more steady approach is advised. So be warned!

I started off by cupping in 50 coarse 4mm pellet at 6 meters and the same amount at 13 meters. Also planned to go straight onto the long line, as I felt I may seek a few early fish. However, it took 10 minutes to get a bite that resulted in a foul hooker that come off. I maintained positive and filled the toss pot full of 4mm pellet. But Jason Cooke to my right (peg 5) was catching well. He must have had 3 carp and there was a few anglers catching across the lake, apart from me! 20 minutes had gone and I had my first common carp, about 4lb. Then I shouted to Jason " hey Jason what you got", and I hand signal of 5, and the guy between us was catching well.....

The first hour saw me have 3 carp (10lb) and I had missed a handful of bites, which was fading away from me. Gosh, I need to do something, otherwise I am going to add another "blow out" to add to my long list. I felt the pellet waggler wouldn't work yet, as there wasn't enough fish and also it was too cold. Therefore, got off my box and quickly put my feeder rod together from the Drennan rod sleeve. Awesome, took about a minute, time well saved, would recommend to get some if you already don't have any.

I lobed the feeder 25 meters which was loaded with 4mm coarse pellet. Now normally wouldn't use pellets as they are very filling, but I felt there was lack of F1's in my peg, and the fish that I have caught were all carp. Therefore, I was going to feed them, if I was catching F1's I would use groundbait as it is less food content. Now this method, on the "method", was reasonably slow and one thing that I have learnt over the years is to be patient. So I was lucky enough to get the rod got dragged in for the next couple of hours. I caught steady, not crazy, but steady. All the fish were carp between 3lb to 6lb, which is a good size. Think, I only need 20 5lbers and I have my magic ton! So, I don't need many fish to build a weight, as I was so surprised with my weight of 85lb at the end of the match. What made it worse was my shocking spilt of fish as I had 27lb in one net and 58lb in another (sorry Dave).

Feed

4mm pellet was soaked in water, now this is important, as they need to be molded around the feeder almost in their original form. So you need to add enough water to achieve this, which will take a "trial and error" approach and will depend on your batch of pellet. Skretting coarse pellet does vary, I find the dustie grey colour seems to be best. Ensure you don't squeeze the pellet too hard around the method feeder, another wise you have paste around it, which isn't normally any good.

Lessons learnt

The crew weighing in

Adi Davies next to me had 8 carp in the last 40 minutes on the "baggin waggler" and I had only 1 carp! The temperature lifted and the fish did come up in the water, which I knew they would....... but I couldn't catch on the pellet waggler and messed up my method feeder line as a result. I loose feed pellet over the top and it didn't work. Only had two fish on it, which were F1's. So baggin waggler in Octocber out scored the pellet waggler! One word about todays match, FLEXIBLE.

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Everybody feared the draw at Sutton Benger, as it is a long, long walk. There was three sections at Sutton Benger and three sections at Chippenham. So I was lucky draw as Chippenham, so no heart attack walk, however really stuggled to catch and caught almost everything in the first hour and ten minutes.

The match.

After plumbing the various rigs, I discover that it was 10 foot deep at 14.5 meters and it was reasonably flat there, it did shallow up at a 45 degree angle (1 foot shallow). There was very little flow. I run my rig through before the match and it took about 30 seconds to move 1 meter, gosh! No weed problems unlike last weeks nightmare match.

There was 6 foot at 5 meters, again with very little flow. So I decided to put three large bait droppers full of chop worm and a few casters at 14.5 meters. Now, I will stress I always use a spare top for my bait dropper with cable tie. This way I never damage my rig that i going to fish and also I don't lose my bait droppers!! So ensure your top kits are the same length, so you know that you are fishing directly over your bait. Then throw six balls of ground bait (50/50 sensas black lake and gros grodon), this had about 100 stunned pinkies and 50 caster and stunned maggots. Stunned pinkies and maggots are just me rubbing them aggressively between my hands so they don't move, which would break my balls up.

I went straight on the balls are 5 meters and caught very quickly.....awesome 5 ting roach, 8 gudgeon in the same about of casts, was a good start. Then I saw what I thought was bleak, so picked up my shallow rig, and caught 3 huge bleak (8 to the pound). Then it went. So with about 1lb in the net, in 30 minutes gone, goodish start. So I didn't need to refeed that line, and went out to 14.5 meters on the chop. I caught 8 fish in so many casts, just by holding it still against the flow (which wasn't difficult, as lack of it). Then picked up a rig to run it through and picked up a couple more fish. 10 chop fish for 1lb 10oz, which was 3 perch and 7 small chub. Then, that was it....... I caught a few tiny chub (6 to the oz) on the waggler and a couple of gudgeon. It was so bad, I couldn't catch. Started to loose fed at 11 meters, with a beautiful strung rig, which caught nothing.